Your Stories

Lots of interesting and exciting things happen to us shorter guys and we want you to share your experiences of being under-five-eight.

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Sibling Rivalry

Being the second eldest out of 6 kids i would have thought that i would have been a decent height.Well i suppose being barely 5'2 is okay but i still have the struggles with reaching things and such like. The only good thing is that as we get older it does get a bit easier. I had to watch my youngest sister reach nearly 6 ins taller than myself. This is how it goes:

MUM --------------------5'6
DAD---------------------5'7
OLDER SISTER------------5'4
ME----------------------5'2
YOUNGER SISTER----------5'7
YOUNGER BROTHER---------5'10
YOUNGER SISTER----------5'3
YOUNGEST SISTER---------5'8

Now i always thought the oldest would be the tallest obviously NOT.
After being the shortest in my family i now have to endure the fact that my own 2 kids are gonna be taller than myself as well. My Daughter is already 14 and 5'4 whereas my son is 11 and up to my shoulder already.

I suppose i can put it down to MY EX giving them something in life even if it is only a bit of height lol.

The funniest thing now is that where i used to have to get help from my brother or sisters to get things down for me i now have to ask my daughter to do so to which she laughs about.

I had already grown to my height by the time was leaving primary school i was about nearly 12 at the time. By this time i was one of the tallest in class.I didnt know that i was gonna stop growing has it was fairly early to do so. Then as we all grew up through secondary school there was only me and 5 other girls which were shorter than the rest. All the boys grew alot taller i think the shortest was around 5'5. Now being 45 nearly, the only good thing i can look forward to is shrinking has i get older lol.I only hope i dont shrink too muck lol.

Debbie

Fame

Well over 6 months ago I took part in a BBC3 documentary on life as a short guy... at the time I had two text messages the night it aired from friends asking why I had not told them it was going to be on telly that night...I didn't know... then a couple of days later a friend of a friend mentioned she had spotted me on tv...other than that, I had every reason to forget the whole darn thing and carry on life as a short arsed singleton... so imagine it - today after a night out with friends I walked into my local library unshaven, messy greasy hair, my rubbishy old glasses that I only wear in emergencies when I have to take out my contact lenses, stinking of beer and sweat and last night's chilli...and a drop dead gorgeous librarian recognised me... I was mortified... one thing worse than being a short arsed singleton after a Friday Night Out is being a short arsed singleton after a friday night out who happens to have had a 5 second cameo in the background of a documentary spotted by a woman I had fancied for 18 months...who now thinks I am an idiot I suppose... rats!

Brian

Equality and Diversity

A 'short' look at the British perspective

A lot of my work is within Local Government; that area of public service sandwiched between the expectations of the public and the political machine of national government. When it comes to equality legislation, Local Government takes its role pretty seriously. However, it needs legislation to guide it, not actually being able to see many of the problems without prompting.

So there I am sat in an equality and diversity course, discussing service provision for ethnic minorities, the disabled and those with differing sexual orientations. I decided to ask the learned tutor about height discrimination. To be honest, she laughed. And so did the rest of my colleagues.

"You can't discriminate on height" was the comment.
"We never notice height", came another.

To be honest, I hadn't really meant to make a big point, but I was on a roll!

I used to work for one of the larger banking institutions in the UK. Nice office and nice people. There were two Dave's in the office. He was known as big Dave and I was little Dave. Never bothered me at the time, but thinking back, 'big Dave' gives the impression of strength and presence, whilst 'little Dave' is someone you give a little cuddle to and pat them on the head.

Of course, all of this very mild office banter wouldn't have affected my chances of progression, would it? Well, big Dave went off to manage a branch somewhere and little Dave stayed on the counter, eventually leaving for something more interesting.

It could be the case that big Dave was much better at his job than me (and that was probably true), but my size definitely influenced the people around me.

After recalling this example, there were some nods in my direction. Although I am in a reasonably senior position, most, if not all, of my male colleagues are taller than me. Individually, no-one would admit to height discrimination, but then again does anyone ever admit to any form of discrimination? It tends to be a collective approach caused by a complex mix of stereotyping, perceptions of normality and a sense of what is or isn't important.

Heightism is something that gets discussed in the US, but doesn't get much publicity here. Short people, especially if they're famous, tend to get their height mentioned, but it is rarely offensive. The Brits have a tendency to be a little more resigned to this type of thing and I can't see it becoming politically charged - unless we make it an issue. There's a thought. There is an election due here soon!

So my course finished and encouragingly a number of people stopped me to discuss my comments. Oh yes, and one of my female colleagues crouched down beside me so our heads were at the same height - and she gave me a cuddle!

Dave

 

Platform Shoes

By one of our members, Brian - View his profile here

When I was 18 I went to Petticoat Lane in London and bought myself a pair of 6 inch platform shoes and to go with them I also bought a pair of flared bottomed velvet trousers.

Then I learnt to walk and run and dance in them and on the particular evening I am sharing with you I wore these shoes to a dance where there were lots of single RAF nurses, and I went up to everyone I wanted to and asked to dance and had absolutely 100% acceptances with about 10 or so girls. Well come to the end of the evening I was dancing a little more smoochily with this young lady when she suggested I went to her place for "coffee" which was about 3 miles away where she shared a house.

So we went out to my car and I knew from driving to the dance I was not able to drive in the platform shoes as when I had them on I had to adjust the seat and once it was pushed back I could not reach the steering wheel, so without even thinking about it I just casually took one shoe off and went to put it on the back seat of my car, but I swung the shoe right in front of the young lady who was at the time lighting up a cigarette, well she saw the silhouette of my shoe and spluttered on her cigarette and grabbed the door handle and ran away.

Well I was puzzled so I shouted out , hey what's the problem, she replied blimey mate have you got an artificial leg as well, I presumed afterwards she thought I had an artificial foot or something, so does height matter ? oh yes I think it does. I can laugh at it now but at the time I didn't.

Brian

The Advantages

By John, a visitor to the site

Ahhhh yes being a shorter statured person does have it's advantages, especially when you're a young looking short male who and literally looks 12. Like going to the cinema, and all you can eat buffet restuarants, i can pull off getting in at kids prices, Otherwise i just cry. But what i love the most is seeing the look on the waiters face when you're sitting there dangling your feet on the chair and ask for the kids menu and also a beer.The look of shock is priceless.They turn around to my date and give her the "you're a bad mother" look. Other times it's a pain in the butt, especially when you negotiate anything with anyone it's hard to be taken seriously. Me and my friend walked into a car dealership and approached the salesman telling him i wanted that nice purple Volkswagon Golf and he said, "OK tell daddy you like that car and i'll give him a good deal" and persisted to pat me on the head. My fist wasn't far from his crotch but I told him "i'll call my daddy, wait here" and we took the bus home. It's the life of a 5'0 and 1/2 person but God works in mysterious ways. Who am i to argue with the divine powers of the universe when it decides to unleash on the world a 5 foot leg humping machine!

John